The giant hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris: Modelling the bone-cracking behavior of an extinct carnivore

Late Pleistocene mammalian assemblages of Southeast Asia: New dating, mortality profiles and evolution of the predator–prey relationships in an environmental context

“…Its behavior seems to differ from that of the large-sized hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris which rather relates to that of modern brown and striped hyenas (Palmqvist and Arribas, 2001). Indeed, P. brevirostris (~110kg; Palmqvist et al, 2011) is considered predominantly a bone-cracking scavenger which fed on carcasses killed and partially consumed by other hypercarnivores (Palmqvist et al, 1996;Arribas, 2001 contra Turner andAnton, 1997;Galobart et al, 2003;Dennell et al, 2008;Louys, 2014).…”

Late Villafranchian Mammuthus meridionalis (Nesti, 1825) from the Iberian Peninsula: Dentognathic remains from Incarcal-I (Crespià, Girona) and Venta Micena (Orce, Granada)

“…According to the taxonomic diversity, the abundance of specimens and their excellent preservation, Venta Micena is a key-site in the European Quaternary (Anadón et al,1987;Martínez-Navarro, 1991, 1992Palmqvist et al, 1996Palmqvist et al, , 2003Palmqvist et al, , 2011Palmqvist and Arribas, 2001;Martínez-Navarro et al, 2011a,b, and references therein). The site chronology, based on magnetostratigraphic and biochrological data, is situated around 1.5e1.6 Ma (Martínez-Navarro, 1991).…”

Were large carnivorans and great climatic shifts limiting factors for hominin dispersals? Evidence of the activity of Pachycrocuta brevirostris during the Mid-Pleistocene Revolution in the Vallparadís Section (Vallès-Penedès Basin, Iberian Peninsula)

“…In spite of its large size (>100 kg; Palmqvist et al, 2011), P. brevirostris differs from the extant hyenas in the shortness of the distal limb bones (i.e., radius and tibia) relative to the proximal ones (i.e., humerus and femur). This presumably indicates a less cursorial life style for this species compared to the living hyenas, although it provided greater power and more stability for dismembering and carrying large pieces of ungulate carcasses (Turner and Ant on, 1996).…”

“…The faunal composition of Vallparadís Estaci o Layer EVT7, which provided the largest fossil assemblage, was compared with those of other Early Pleistocene sites of Europe using a contingency table, developed following the statistical procedure described in Palmqvist et al (2011), which allows testing of the null hypothesis of homogenous distribution of taxa among the localities compared. The results obtained in the contingency table (Table 1) show that compared to other Early Pleistocene sites, the faunal assemblage of Vallparadís Estaci o shows frequencies greater than expected from a random distribution for proboscideans, hippos and, to a lesser extent, other large mammal taxa, while the frequencies of bovids, cervids and perissodactyls are lower than expected in all cases.…”

“…The Iberian Peninsula apparently displayed such environments, although other factors might have conditioned the survival of these human populations. In particular, taphonomic studies carried out in the Orce localities suggest that large scavenging carnivorans, such as the giant, short-faced hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris, were responsible of an intense bone modification activity during the late Early Pleistocene (Arribas and Palmqvist, 1998;Espigares, 2010;Palmqvist et al, 2011;Espigares et al, 2013). Evidence of anthropic action on bones is also recorded at these sites Toro-Moyano et al, 2013), although the analysis of data at hand suggests that primary access to ungulate carcasses by humans took only place under occasional circumstances, for example those recorded at Fuente Nueva-3, where intense competition between humans and hyenas around an elephant carcass has been documented .…”